Let Your Light Shine

“This is the mission of this Krsna consciousness movement. We simply have to voluntarily undergo some penance in the beginning. It may be a little painful in the beginning to refrain from illicit sex, intoxication, meat-eating and gambling, but one has to be tolerant. To be cured of a disease, we may have to agree to undergo some surgical operation. Although the operation may be very painful, we have to tolerate it. This is called titiksavah.

“At the same time, we have to be karunikah — that is, we have to take compassion upon fallen souls by going from town to town to enlighten others in Krsna consciousness. This is a sadhu’s duty. Those who are preachers are superior to those who go to the Himalayas to meditate. It is good to go to the Himalayas to meditate for one’s personal benefit, but those who undergo many difficulties in order to preach are superior. They are actually fighting for Krsna’s sake, and they are certainly more compassionate. Those sadhus who leave Vrndavana to go fight in the world, to spread Krsna consciousness, are superior sadhus.”

TLK Vs 24

Reflection: “Christian asceticism does not provide a flight from the world, a refuge from stress and the distractions of manifold wickedness. It enables us to enter into the confusion of the world bearing something of the light of Truth in our hearts,and capable of exercising something of the mysterious, transforming power of the Cross, of love and sacrifice.”

Thomas Merton, Seasons of Celebration, p. 132

Reading from the Bible: “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar, but on
the lamp stand so that those who enter may see the light.”

Luke 11:33 [NRSV]

Prayer: “Dislodge the darkness in our hearts. Let the light of your Holy Presence within us shine forth through us to our neighbors.”